Caught in the Crossfire
by SizzleShorts
Summary: When a tragedy calls him back to his hometown, Wally West is prepared to live an average life taking care of his cousin Bart. But an unwanted and forced alliance leaves him stuck between two feuding sides both out for blood. A supernatural AU. High 'T' rating. Eventual canon pairings (mostly).
1. Chapter 1 - Fresh Meat

Summary: When a tragedy calls him back to his hometown, Wally West is prepared to live a dull life taking care of his cousin. But a forced alliance leaves him stuck between two feuding teams both out for blood.

Warnings: While it doesn't classify a 'M' rating yet, this story is being given a high 'T'. If you are uncomfortable with violence, sexual comments, or any level of gore, this story isn't for you.

Disclaim: I do not and will never own any of the characters mentioned. They are the property of DC Comics and their respective creators.

~~~~~.~~~~~

The first time Wally West packed up his car with all his belonging and left home, he thought he wouldn't see Central City again for a long time. He planned to hit the road and head to California, where he'd waste some of the best years of his life on the beaches and boardwalks, surrounded by parties and bikinis before heading to college.

Getting into college, no matter how long he waited before going, would've been no problem; Wally was more than smart enough. Hey, he was practically a professional scientist even without a college education, and he never missed the opportunity to point that out when introducing himself to a pretty girl.

During his senior year at Keystone High School, Wally had had his sights set on getting into Stanford, but he hadn't put that much thought into going back to school since the day he got his high school diploma. He was looking forward to a couple years off and enjoying his youth before adulthood sapped it away from him.

It was almost funny, in a dark way, how a car crash could tear everything apart so easily.

He'd gotten the call from the Central City police department about two weeks ago. A truck had run a red light at an intersection and hit his Uncle Barry's car, flipping it over and into a ditch. His aunt Iris was killed in the crash. Barry was announced dead at the hospital three hours later.

Even though he hated himself for it now, Wally didn't grieve for long when it had happened. He'd lost so many people in the past few years that in the back of his mind, he'd almost expected it.

The Garricks, who had always been as good as grandparents to him, had died a few months apart, roughly a year before he'd graduated high school. Cancer had taken his mother a year or so after that, and trying to escape from the pain of losing so many loved ones had taken his father.

If it wasn't for his cousin Bart, Wally probably wouldn't have even gone to his aunt and uncle's funeral.

Don't get him wrong; Wally had loved his uncle and aunt dearly; at times they were better parents to him than his actual mother and father were. But he'd had to learn quickly that people died, there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it, and crying didn't bring anyone back.

Wow… Only 20 years old and he was already so bitter…

But with both of his parents suddenly gone, Bart needed someone in his life, and Wally was going to be that someone. As soon as he got home from the funeral, he'd made arrangements to move back to Central City and started packing the next day.

It looked like the babes on the coast and college would have to wait, but he was still the only family his fourteen-year-old cousin had left. He was an adult, and now he had to act like it.

"Home sweet home," Wally mumbles as he drives past the broad 'Welcome to Central City!' billboard on the side of the road. The warm, bright colors on the sign contrast terribly with the dark rain clouds rolling in the sky.

He hardly has to think about the directions as he drives through the streets of the city; he knows this place better than he'd known the last three places he lived in. Soon the small skyscraper buildings of downtown are behind him and he enters the more suburban outskirts of the city, and the streets became lined with small houses separated from one another by rows of random trees. Uncle Barry had always hated driving these kinds of neighborhoods; every house was different yet somehow they all looked _exactly _the same.

He slowed down once he finally found and turned onto Marrs street, and he looks for a "house with red siding and 'B05' painted on the mailbox".

It didn't take him long to find the house that belonged Megan Morse. If the small collection of crooked decorations didn't give it away, the bright red-and-purple mini-van in the driveway did. Of course, she also could've mentioned that she lived on a dead end street and hers was the last house on the right side.

Wally couldn't help but smile fondly at the sight; Megan was probably his oldest and closest friend from high school. He'd met her in the fifth-grade, and in high school he finally realized, or rather he accepted, that she would only ever love him as a dear friend or a brother.

But as it turned out, having Megan as a best friend made him just as happy, and with their matching red hair and freckles a lot of people always assumed they were siblings anyway. Neither Megan nor Wally ever saw a reason to correct any of them.

He pulls up into the driveway and parks beside the van, turning the engine of his beat-up yellow-and-red car off with a sigh.

But instead of getting out and attempting to take all of his stuff inside before the rain started falling, Wally just sits there. He'd be sharing this home with Megan and her younger adoptive brother Garfield for a short while, just until he found a decent apartment for Bart and himself.

He was glad Bart was at least staying with the family of his best friend for the time being, and that Megan's uncle John had moved out and into his own apartment a couple months earlier, at least. The five of them all under one roof? It sounded like the premise of a doomed sitcom.

With a sigh, Wally finally climbs out of his car. The sooner he gets used to all of this the better. He takes a moment to stretch his arms and legs, tired from the long drive, and he's reaching for the door handle of the backseat when he spots them.

Two people are standing by the mailbox of a vacant brick house across the street, which wouldn't have caught his attention if they were staring directly at him.

The shorter of the two is a young woman with the thickest mane of blonde hair tied behind her that Wally had ever seen. Her sharp eyes and darker skin hint at at least one Asian parent, if he had to guess.

The taller is a broad-shouldered man, with short black hair and disturbingly bright blue eyes. Even from here Wally can tell that the guys built like a tank.

Wally's a little disturbed by the two, to say the least. It isn't as if they're just giving him a passing glance either; they're both standing still, hands shoved into the pockets of matching black coats, and gazing at him with such intensity that Wally couldn't help but tense up.

"You guys need something?" Wally calls out to them, and he's grateful that his voice doesn't crack the way it usually did when he gets nervous. The man narrows his eyes, but the blonde woman meets Wally's gaze and she suddenly smirks.

The redheaded man swallows and takes a small step back, suddenly wondering if the two were about to pull a gun on him or something. This wasn't Gotham City or anything, but every town still had its nut jobs.

Still smirking, the blonde woman leans over to the man and whispers something in his ear. His blazing eyes remaining fixed on Wally and he scoffs at whatever the woman said, crossing his arms over his wide chest and nodding.

Wally scowls when he feels heat suddenly creep up to his cheeks, and he opens his mouth to tell the odd pair off when a familiar voice chirps "There you are!" behind him.

Wally turns away from the two across the street and grins when Megan practically flies down her driveway and gives him one of her hugs that has always seemed way too strong for someone as bubbly her to give.

"Hey Megan," he grins once she's finally satisfied with the hug, and he takes a step back to look her over. She looked overall the same since he'd last seen her, except her once long red hair is now cut and styled into a short pixie cut. But the warm glow in her amber eyes is the same as ever. "Sorry I didn't call you or anything, I was…looking around." Megan blinks at his reply and looks over his shoulder with a frown.

"Who were you talking to just now, Wally?"

"Just some –" Wally starts to reply, but when he looks back at the brick house the yard is empty, and there's no signs visible that anyone had even been there in the first place. "There were people over there a minute ago..."

"Really?" Megan furrows her brow with a look of surprise, "That old house has been empty for so long that I didn't think any one would ever buy it."

Wally starts to explain that the people he saw weren't actually _in_ the house, but Megan is already taking boxes out of his backseat to be brought inside, the conversation forgotten.

"Your room's the farthest one down the hall from the kitchen," Megan explains as they carry the majority of Wally's belongings inside, "Sorry that it's the smallest too; It used to be Gar's but then he took uncle John's room after he moved out and I couldn't talk him into trading back –"

"No worries, Megalicious," Wally replies, and he grins when she rolls her eyes at her old high school nickname, "You guys are doing enough for me just by letting me stay here."

"You're family, Wally." Megan replies warmly, nudging the front door open with her foot and stepping into the living room. Wally follows right after and is greeted by a blast of warm air and the sweet scent of spices.

Her living room is small but nice, with a thick carpet and two large plush couches that take up most of the room. The walls are covered with photos of friends and her many relatives, or lined with shelves of little knickknack souvenirs that her uncle John has no doubt collected for her during his many business trips.

It was all so cozy and warm and so…Megan. He didn't think that anyone could step into this house and not feel instantly at home.

"By the way, Garfield's going to spend the night at a friend's house after school," Megan says over her shoulder as she leads him down the hallway and enters the scarcely furnish room that Wally would be living in. She sets the boxes down at the foot of the bed and steps back so Wally can put his down, "It'll be pretty quiet here so you can get some rest."

"Thanks again, Megan," Wally smiles as he sits on the edge of the bed, running a hand over the soft white comforter before laying back. He didn't even realize how tired he was until his head hits the pillow, "You're a real life-saver." Megan smiles again and heads for the door, but then pauses and looks back at him.

"Oh, and Wally," Megan bites her lip as he looks at her, and for a moment she looks uncertain about whether or not she should continue, "I know you're just putting on a brave face for Bart's sake right now, but I'm really sorry again about your uncle and aunt… I know you must really miss them."

"Yeah… I really do," Wally replies quietly, and he's surprised by his own sincerity. Megan gives him another small smile and quietly shuts the door behind her.

The rain starts to fall about ten minutes later, but Wally West is fast asleep by then.

~~.~~

"So Artemis, what was so special about that anyway?" the muscular man grunts, walking side-by-side down the street with his blonde companion, "He didn't look like much too me…He was too damn scrawny, too."

"Scrawny or not, Dick told us to check him out so we did," the woman, Artemis, replies with a shrug as they walk around a corner, "We have to check out _everyone _that moves into this neighborhood, Conner. That doesn't necessarily make them special."

"Is that right?" Conner raises an eyebrow, "Because you certainly kept your eyes on him long enough."

"Easy with the accusations there, big guy." Artemis huffs teasingly, "It would take more than freckles and a pair of green eyes lure me in."

"If you say so," Conner shrugs, "But Dick sent the two of us to check that guy out this time, and he wouldn't do that unless he expected trouble. Why the extra security measures?" Artemis sighs quietly, her brow furrowing slightly at Conner's question.

"To be honest," she finally answers, "I think he just wanted to be sure that no one was moving into the old brick house." Conner's expression softens and he looks away from Artemis with a nod.

"Right," Conner mutters as they turned around the last corner and in an instant his scowl is back, "He just inconveniently moved in across the street, with Megan Morse of all people..."

"We're not in high school anymore Conner, and you can't dwell on your old girlfriends forever," she reminds him gently, "Hell, you're not even the same species as her anymore and you know Dick's rules about that."

"His own rules sure didn't stop him from turning Zatanna last year," Conner replies grumpily, glancing up at the sky as the rain starting to finally fall.

"Easy, Conner. You know why didn't have a choice with Zee," Artemis says in a warning tone, but Conner's indifferent shrug tells her that he was bored with the conversation anyway.

The two walked down the road in silence as the houses become less frequent and are instead replaced by thick patches of trees, and soon the only building in sight is a large white-and-gray Victorian-style mansion at the far end of the street.

"You know Artemis," Conner suddenly say with a grin as they reach the mansion and started to ascend the short staircase leading up to the wide front porch, "If the storm doesn't clear up too much, tonight might be a good night for a run."

"Of course," Artemis replies, glancing up at the dark sky with another smirk, "And if Dick is still hesitant to let us go out after last month's little fiasco, I'll have Zee _persuade _him again."

Conner chuckles and walks into the house, but Artemis pauses just outside of the door, closing her eyes and breathing in the cool, crisp air that came with the rain. It was still a few hours until sundown, but she was already itching to go out to the woods and run.

After all, even if they couldn't see it behind the clouds, tonight was still going to be a full moon.

Wally West sure picked one hell of a time to move to Central City.

~~~~.~~~~


	2. Chapter 2 - Trouble Brewing

Summary: When a tragedy calls him back to his hometown, Wally West is prepared to live a dull life taking care of his cousin. But a forced alliance leaves him stuck between two feuding teams both out for blood.

Warnings: While it doesn't classify a 'M' rating yet, this story is being given a high 'T'. If you are uncomfortable with violence, sexual comments, or any level of gore, this story isn't for you.

Disclaim: I do not and will never own any of the characters mentioned. They are the property of DC Comics and their respective creators.

~~~~~.~~~~~

Dick Grayson stands on the back porch of his Victorian mansion, his hands in his coat pocket and his blue eyes fixed on the tree line of the forest behind the house, a large duffel bag at his feet. The sky above is still swirling with dark clouds heavy with rain, but he can still feel the glow of the full moon behind them. It makes him feel so powerful, yet at the same time so restless. He wishes he was in the forest right now, running and hunting with the rest of them.

He was, like the rest of his household, a lycan, and he needs to feel the forest under his feet.

But maintaining a fragile peace has to come first, and as the new alpha male of the pack, he has rules to obey during his 'trial period'. He wondered briefly if his adoptive father and former Alpha of their pack, Bruce, had been as strict in his youth as Dick was, though he doubts it.

At least he only has a few more months to endure being left behind before he could lead his pack through their forest himself.

Ah, there they are…

He watches wordlessly as there was a rustling amongst the trees, and moments later four massive wolves, nearly the size of horses, came slinking out of the forest, their fur slick from the light drizzle that was still coming down. Dick smiles as they approached, and under the musty scents of the woods clinging to their fur he could smell blood. Tonight's hunt had been a success.

The wolves were being led by a cream-colored female, and even in his human form Dick can feel the dominant aura over three males behind her that she's radiating. It was only when she met his gaze that he ever saw any form of submission shining in her gray eyes. Choosing Artemis as his Beta was proving time and again to be a good choice.

Trotting behind Artemis is a large male with blazing blue eyes: Conner Kent. His thick, jet black pelt is still bristling, which meant that he'd either gotten irritated with the other two males behind him at some earlier point, or the hunt hadn't used up all of the adrenaline that came with the full moon. It could always go either way with him.

Behind Conner is a much smaller male with a short blue-gray coat. His brown eyes, Dick notes, still have a touch of guilt in them, and he's frequently licking at the blood still clinging to the fur around his mouth. It was to be expected; Jaime Reyes is the newest and youngest member of their pack. But he was a quick learner, and he'd eventually accept that things had to die in order for them to survive. Besides, it wasn't like they fed on _humans_ when in their feral forms, just animals.

Bringing up the rear of the pack is a male with dark, ice gray fur and dull blue eyes. Unlike Jaime, he's making no attempt to clean off the blood around his mouth, and is instead entertaining himself by nipping at Jaime's flank in spite of the younger one's yelps of protest. Dick narrows his eyes and sighs; Artemis had on more than one occasion vouched for him, but that didn't mean that Dick always approved of Cameron Mahkent's behavior.

The four of them reach the house and stop in front of Dick, staring up at him with glowing eyes. For a moment there is no movement but as Dick watches they began to change; they reared up onto two legs as the fur shrinks back into their bodies. Bones popped and squeaked as they shrank and reshaped themselves back into a human skeleton and their muzzles and teeth slowly retract back into their faces. Their bodies are tense and they occasionally shiver; Dick knows from his own experience that this is sometimes a painful process, but Jaime is the only one letting out small yelps of discomfort.

And a few moments later, four humans stand in the spots that their wolf forms had occupied only moments ago. Sweat glistens on their nude bodies and Jaime is still doubled over and catching his breath. Raising an eyebrow at the youngest boy, Dick kicks the duffel bag down towards them. Artemis catches it with practiced eased and unzips it as she leads the three males onto the porch. Once they're under the cover of the roof, she passes out their articles of clothing that were inside.

"Any problems?" Dick asks, crossing his arms as the four in front of him begin to clothe themselves.

"Might be," Conner grunts, nearly stumbling backwards off the porch as he pulls on a pair of worn blue jeans over his black boxers. Dick frowns and looks at Artemis expectantly as they all turn and head into the house.

"Parts of the western side of the forest have the scents of the Coven all over it," she reports after pulling a snug green shirt over her head. "They must've recently been in our territory."

"The Coven? What are they doing this far south of the city?" Dick replies, but he works on keeping his anger out of his voice, "Are you sure it was the Coven, and not just some rogues passing through?"

"We know their stench when we smell it," Cameron sneers as he buckles his belt, "The scents of that Tim boy and Raquel herself were stinking up the whole area! It's a wonder that we found any prey!"

"But there was no smell of blood, _ese_, and Zatanna said that the Coven doesn't feed on animals!" Jaime pipes up, "Maybe they weren't hunting. Maybe they were just looking for someone, or something."

"Doesn't matter," Conner huffs and crosses his arms, "They know that this forest is Dick's territory, and they intruded anyway."

"So what's the verdict then, boss?" Cameron asks, his eyes shining with sudden excitement, "We go there now and tear them limb from limb? Because I really wouldn't mind sinking my teeth into –"

"Enough!" Dick snarls at them, and the three males immediately shrink back, their eyes cast to the ground, "Until we know exactly _why_ they were on our territory, no one's picking fights or spilling any Coven blood! The last thing we need is another war!"

"But this can't just be ignored either, Dick," Artemis reminds him, setting a hand on his shoulder, "The Coven can't just walked into the forest without your permission. That was part of our truce."

"I know," Dick sighs, running a hand through his mop of black hair. He is silent for a moment, eyes narrowed in thought, before finally meeting the expectant gazes of his pack, "Cameron, Conner, in the morning you two check the forest and make sure they didn't leave bodies of any kind lying around. Jaime, you'll stay here with Zatanna in case someone else from the Coven shows up."

"Understood," Conner replies, and all three of the gamma males nods as they accepted Dick's orders.

"Good job on the hunt tonight too," Dick says with a nod back at them, "You guys go get some sleep now."

"And me?" Artemis asks, raising one dark eyebrow curiously as Conner, Cameron, and Jaime all shuffled away towards their bedrooms.

"You'll be accompanying me to the city," Dick replies and he suddenly looks exhausted, "We need to have a little talk with Kaldur'ahm about his subordinates."

~~.~~

It's still raining when Wally wakes up. He has no idea what time it is or how long he'd been asleep, but he felt more rested than he has in weeks. He sits up and stretches with a grunt, listening to the rain beating against the windows for a few moments before climbing out of the bed and heading out of his room. As he walks down the hall he wonders if he'd missed dinner, and the sudden of memories of Megan's cooking made his stomach growl in anticipation.

Megan is sitting at the table when he enters the kitchen, and the steaming cup of coffee beside her makes Wally glance up at the clock by the stove; 9:06 a.m.

He must've been more exhausted than he thought to have slept over twelve hours...

"Morning, Wally," Megan greets when she noticed him, and she sets down the latest romance novel she's reading (Wally will never understand the appeal of those novels. "Wandering Hearts of Mars". Seriously?). "I'm glad to see you finally looking rested."

"Thanks, I think," he replies, sitting down at the other end of the table as Megan gets up to make him a cup of coffee. He thought he'd looked perfectly fine yesterday, but apparently he and Megan still had vastly different opinions of what someone looked like when they were "rested".

"Hope the room was comfortable enough, though I'm honestly surprised you got any sleep with all those dogs barking last night," Megan comments over her shoulder as she poured his cup.

"Dogs?" Wally repeats, raising a red eyebrow at her when she walks back over and hands him the mug, "What dogs?"

"You didn't hear them?" Megan replies with genuine surprise, sitting back down in her seat, "You could hear them all over the neighborhood, barking and howling all night. I think it's just some pack of strays, but they do it nearly every month. It's kind of creepy, really..."

"Weird," Wally agrees, taking a sip of his coffee and wrinkling his nose at the bitter taste. He couldn't really remember when he started drinking it black, but Aunt Iris used to tell him that the way he drank it as a teenager was very unhealthy. Cream and 37 sugars couldn't have been that abnormal, could it?

"I'm heading into town soon," Megan says after she takes another sip from her own cup, "If you'd like to ride along. I mean if not, you can stay here and work on unpacking, not that there's any rush for you to get everything moved in, or-"

"A ride into town sounds great, Megan," Wally smiles, reassuring her with a wave of his hand, "It's time I got reacquainted with this city anyway."

~~.~~

Wally shoves his hands into the pockets of his baggy jeans, walking along the sidewalk as the memories of the city's layout slowly returned to his mind. Megan had dropped him off a few blocks back, saying something about a lunch date with some girls named Karen and Wendy. His stomach suddenly growls and makes him wish that he'd tagged along for the food, but there would probably be plenty of time to eat later. Right now, he just had to figure out where the hell he was…

"Hardware store, electronics store, insurance office, bank, another electronics store, women's clothing," Wally sighs as he passes by each building. What, had all the restaurants gone out of business when he was gone?

"Should've stuck with Megan after all-" he starts to mumble, but paused when he catches a familiar smell not too far away. There's was no mistaking it - a pizza parlor!

Unable to contain a grin, Wally jogs around the corner and grunts loudly when he suddenly runs face-first into the rock-hard chest of a man. The redhead stumbles back from the impact, but the blond man he'd bumped into hadn't budged an inch.

"Ow...Sorry!" Wally grunts, rubbing his now sore nose with a slight, "Guess I wasn't paying much-"

"Sorry?" the blond man growls, and Wally lets out a surprised yelp when he's suddenly grabbed by the collar and slammed up against the brick wall of the building beside them, "Yer ass is gonna be real sorry when I beat those goddamn freckles off yer face!"

"W-what?!" Wally splutters, trying to pry the blond man's hand off of his shirt, but he had an iron grip. What was this guy made of?! "Take it easy man, I just-!"

"Is there some sort of disagreement over here, gentleman?" a much calmer voice suddenly cuts in, and Wally and the blond both looked over to see a tall, dark-skinned man with unusually pale blond hair standing beside them.

"Nah, jus' makin' some new friends," the muscular blond says, looking back at Wally and tightening his grip around his throat, "Be seein' ya later, red." Wally gulps as the blond man suddenly drops him before turning and heading back down the sidewalk. He flashes Wally an unnerving grin as he disappeared around the corner, and Wally prays that he never sees that guy again.

"Are you unharmed, my friend?" the dark-skinned man asks, standing in front of Wally and offering him a hand. Wally rubs his lower back with a wince before taking the man's hand and getting to his feet.

"What was the guy's problem anyway?" Wally mutters, mostly to himself. Judging by his thick Southern accent, Wally doubted that the guy was a local, but was he just walking around picking fights like that everywhere? Talk about a mad dog on the loose...

"Thanks for the save," Wally said, turning back towards his savior, "Name's Wally, by the way."

"A pleasure to meet you, Wallace." the other man nods, giving an oddly serene smile when Wally cringes at the use of his full name, "My name is –"

"Kaldur!" Wally jumps again at the sudden voice behind him and looks over his shoulder as two more figures approached him. One is a black-haired man wearing dark sunglasses, and beside him is a very familiar blonde woman that Wally recognized almost immediately.

"What the...You!" he splutters, pointing a finger in the woman's face. She stares at the intrusively close appendage for a moment before meeting Wally's gaze with a glare of her own.

"What about me?" she repeats, somehow looking even more annoyed than she had a moment ago.

"You were standing outside my house!" Wally snaps with an accusing glare. The woman narrows her eyes but the man with sunglasses quickly reaches over and swats Wally's hand out of her face. Wally turns to glare at him; it wasn't the same dark-haired man that had been standing with this woman yesterday, but any friend of hers could have been bad news to him.

"Tell me why you were watching me, or-!"

"Please," Kaldur'ahm voice gently cut in, "I do not believe you sought out my company for no reason. Dick, Artemis, you wished to speak with me?"

Wally glances back at Kaldur'ahm, suddenly feeling a little wary of his savior. His voice sounded as calm as it had before, but suddenly there was a cold iciness there as well, like Kaldur'ahm was suddenly holding back a sudden fury.

"Yeah, Kaldur," Dick replies as he takes off his sunglasses and pockets them, his blue eyes blazing as he looked over at Kaldur'ahm, "We may have a serious problem here."

"We do have a serious problem indeed. One that my friend Wallace here can confirm," Kaldur replies, ignoring the wide-eyed stare that Wally suddenly gives him, "It would seem that Thomas Terror, and perhaps his sister Tuppence, are back in town."

~~~~.~~~~


	3. Chapter 3 - A New Target

Summary: When a tragedy calls him back to his hometown, Wally West is prepared to live a dull life taking care of his cousin. But a forced alliance leaves him stuck between two feuding teams both out for blood.

Warnings: While it doesn't classify a 'M' rating yet, this story is being given a high 'T'. If you are uncomfortable with violence, sexual comments, or any level of gore, this story isn't for you.

Disclaim: I do not and will never own any of the characters mentioned. They are the property of DC Comics and their respective creators.

~~~~~.~~~~~

"The Terror Twins?" Artemis repeats, glaring at Wally and then at Kaldur, "What the hell are they doing back in town?"

"As the ones entrusted with keeping them out of the city, I was hoping that you would have an answer for that question, Artemis," Kaldur replies coolly. Artemis scowls, and Wally wonders if he could manage to just back away from this weird group and make a run for it.

Somehow, he doesn't think he'd get very far.

"Tommy could be here alone," Artemis says, speaking to Dick this time, "Or he might just be passing through."

"In either case, I can only hope that this matter will be resolved soon," Kaldur chuckles dryly, "In case the two of you have forgotten what happened the last time they were in town –"

"Yeah, we remember," Dick interrupts, his eyes blazing again, "And we'll figure out what to do with them later, but they're not our main grievance today."

"Last night some of our housemates told us that Raquel and Tim were in our territory," Artemis speaks up again, "So we're here to warn you that if we catch them or anyone from your place in our territory again, we'll drag them back to you in pieces."

Kaldur turns towards her and smiles again, and his expression turns ever colder.

"I would _love_ to see you try," he replies quietly, "But perhaps their scents were just caught in the wind. Rest assured that every member of my group was at our home last night."

"There's an entire city between our territories," Dick snaps, "There's no way in hell for those two scents to be there by coincidence. Now you may not have been hunting on our grounds, but trespassing is still trespassing, and if you think I'm going to let you –"

"Okay, time out!" Wally steps forward, and he tries not to shrink back when three heads turn to glare at him. Dick is scowling, and both Artemis and Kaldur look stunned that Wally had said anything at all.

"I don't know if you guys are in a gang or something will all this territory talk or if your names are really stuff like Kaldur and Artemis, but I'm hungry, I want to go home, and no offense, but you three are some of the weirdest people I've run into today, and that's including the guy that just threatened to beat the freckles off of me, so I'm just going to go, okay?"

Kaldur, Artemis, and Dick stare at Wally for a long, tense moment before Dick and Artemis suddenly throw their heads back in laughter, and Wally feels his face flushing with a sudden anger. Who the hell did these guys think they were anyway?!

"I'm serious!" he snaps, taking a step away from him, but then he yelps and jumps forward again when he backs into someone standing behind him.

"Conner," Dick greets with a nod as Wally tilts his head back to look at the man looming behind him.

"Oh great, now they're both here…" Wally mutters, shooting a glare at Conner and then at Artemis, "Since you're both here, now you can explain why you were standing outside my-"

"Why is_ he _here?" Kaldur suddenly says. His voice comes out in such a sharp hiss that Wally almost flinches.

"I live here," Conner growls, his hands curling into fists, "I'm here to talk to Dick, and if you don't like it, Kaldur, then you can go fuck yourself."

Kaldur tenses and his own hands curl into fists, but he just smiles again and nods, as if giving Conner permission to speak in his presence. Conner bristles and Wally takes a step closer to the wall; he doesn't want to be in the way if the big guy starts swinging.

But then Dick clears his throat and Conner's posture relaxes as the muscular man as he meets Dick's gaze.

"Forest is clear. No bodies, no fresh scents, and the borders had been reinforced." he reports. Wally notices a meaningful glance between Dick and Artemis and he wonders how the hell that report made any sense to them. Conner was speaking like he was a dog or something…

"I would expect an apology for your false accusations again my family," Kaldur sighs, "But I know that your breed is far too proud for that."

"We know more humility than your lot," Dick says as he turns to face Kaldur again, a hint of a smile on his face, "But there were no false accusations today, Kaldur. Coven scent was in our forest, and that threat still stands. We catch anyone in those woods, from Garth to Billy, there will be consequences."

"As I should have expected," Kaldur replies with another humorless smile, "Your kind certainly does have a history of unprovoked violence." His pale eyes landed on Conner again, and for a moment Wally wonders if he's going to attack him.

"Revenge isn't unprovoked," Dick replies quietly, and Kaldur's attention is back on him. Kaldur looks like he has something else to say, but then he just nods again and turns around, walking away from the group. In seconds, Kaldur disappears around a corner at the far end of the sidewalk.

"He seems sincere about what he was saying," Artemis says as she looks back at Dick, but Conner crosses his arms and snorts.

"We can't trust him," he grunts and Dick nods in agreement. Artemis frowns but then looks over at Wally. Her eyes flash, as if wondering why he hasn't already run away from them and as Wally holds her gaze he's wondering the same thing.

~~.~~

Anyone who saw the young woman approaching the abandoned warehouse district would've been understandably curious. The contracting businesses that owned the property had been shut down for years, but with so much construction equipment left behind, the place was a danger zone.

But as she pushes through the rusted gate of the chain link fence surrounding the lot, the dangers of the area were the last thing on Tuppence Terror's mind.

She glances around the area to make sure no one was watching her – she would've _hated_ to have to break someone's neck – before she quickly made her way down the row of warehouses until stop in front of the eighth one on the right side.

It had been green once, but time and exposure to the elements had worn it down to a dull gray. Her blue eyes dart to the dark number '16' spray painted onto the side before she pushes one of the side doors open and steps into the warehouse.

She shut and locked the door behind her, and hurried down the short hallway before stepping into the wide center room, and she stares at what she sees in front of her.

In the center of the room, surrounded by bulldozers and compactors, is a dark cream wolf the size of a horse. In front of the wolf is the body of a man, and a pool of blood and spread around them both as the wolf snarls and tears chunks of meat from the stomach of the body.

Tuppence sighs and the wolf whirls around, blue eyes blazing, but an instant later he recognizes her and his hackles lower. Shaking her head, Tuppence approaches the corpse and the wolf licks away some of the blood and meat hanging out of the corner of his mouth.

"Was this a random bum, Tommy?" Tuppence asks as she looks down at the wolf, "Or are ya muzzle-deep in the innards of another civilian?"

The wolf – Tommy Terror- snorts as he turns his attention back to the remains of the man and he sinks his teeth into the untouched chest, his sharp teeth easily tearing through the clothes to get to the flesh underneath.

"Can't ya eat later?" Tuppence snaps as she kicks Tommy's side, causing him to grunt and glare at her, "Did ya find anyone or not?"

Tommy snorts again and straightens up, and Tuppence turns away as he rears up and starts to phase back into his human form. Not willing to see her twin brother in all his glory, she hurries over to a nearby bulldozer and pulls a black duffel bag out of the cab. She tosses it over her shoulder and hears Tommy grunt when he catches it.

"Watch it, Tuppy! That almost landed in my lunch!" a deep voice with the same heavy Southern accent says behind her, and Tuppence snickers. No point in having a sibling if you couldn't annoy them.

"Yeah, cuz bloody clothes would _really_ ruin yer day," she scoffs, turning back around as Tommy pulled his usual white shirt, "Now, how 'bout some answers to my questions?"

"Yeah, just a bum I found sleepin' in an alley," Tommy shrugs. He kicks at the shoulder of the body, and looks like he'd rather be finishing it off than talking. "An' I didn't find no one worth bitin'."

"Well then this city's damn near useless," Tuppence sighs, "We'll head out after dark an' keep on goin' 'til we get to Gotham."

"Whatever ya say, Tuppy," Tommy shrugs and leans down to tie the laces of his boots, "But we got a pit stop to make on our way out."

"Ya bumped into someone on the streets that ya didn't like, huh?" Tuppence guesses and raises an eyebrow at her brother, and he grins back at her.

"Ya know me like a book, sis," Tommy chuckles, "An' yeah – some punk ass ginger named Wally or somethin'. Can't be but so many poor fools in this town with a name like that."

~~.~~

This is probably the most awkward lunch he's ever sat through, but since that Dick guy is the one paying and since he'd already gone through three slices of pizza, Wally decides that he can get through the rest of it.

Artemis and Dick are sitting on the other side of the booth, talking quietly to one another and occasionally plucking some of the sausage and pepperoni off of what was left of the large pizza sitting between them.

Weird company is a small price to pay for free food, though Dick and Artemis are by far some of the weirdest people he'd ever met. Conner had left a few minutes before Dick offered to buy Wally lunch, apparently as an apology for their "unpleasant first impressions". But since the food was already paid for and they weren't eating any of it beyond the occasional swiped toppings, Wally was starting to get the feeling that the odd conversation from before was about to come back and somehow involve him.

In hindsight, he should've feigned a bathroom break and gotten the hell out of their as fast as he could, but as usually his hunger was overpowering his logical thinking.

"Okay, time to address the elephant in the room. Or, elephant in the pizza parlor, whichever you prefer," Wally says after swallowing his latest mouthful. Dick and Artemis both turn to look at him, both of them raising their eyebrows expectantly.

"Before you ask any questions," Dick waves a hand at him, "I'll tell you now that we probably won't be able to answer them, but go ahead anyway."

"Okay, first of all, are you all in some sort of gangs and are you going to try and recruit and/or kill me?" Wally asks, tossing what's left of his crust down and crossing his arms. Dick and Artemis exchanged looks again, and Wally scowls at how amused they suddenly look.

"Yes and no," Artemis answers him, "They're technically not the sort of gangs that you're used to."

"Second half, we're not intending to recruit or kill you," Dick speaks up, "But to answer the inevitable 'why are you still here then' question, we're just keeping an eye on you for now."

"Keeping an eye on me?" Wally frowns skeptically, that's A, really creepy, and 2, I'm a grown man, I can keep an eye on myself." Artemis and Dick exchange that look again, and Wally tries not to scowl.

"Remember that big guy from before? The one that was bigger than Conner?" Artemis turns her head to meet his gaze again, "That was Tommy Terror, and he doesn't make idle threats. If he says he'll see you around, then he'll track you down and probably kill you."

"What?!" Wally yelps, and he shrinks back when half of the other customers turn around to look at them. Dick just waves and gives them all a polite nod, but his expression is grave when he looks back at Wally.

"We're being serious, Wallace –"

"Just Wally," the redhead pleads.

"Wally," Dick corrects himself, "The Terror Twins are the last people you want to take lightly. Tommy's bad enough on his own, but if his sister's in town too then they'll both be coming after you, and there's not a place in this country that you can hide. They're called Terrors for a reason."

"You can't go to the police either," Artemis pipes up when Wally opens his mouth. He promptly shuts it. "The humans couldn't protect you if they tried."

Wally frowns again and wonders why she specifically calls them humans, but Dick suddenly stands up before he can ask.

"As necessary as Conner's report was, his presence probably put Kaldur in a pretty hostile mood," Dick says, speaking to Artemis again, "I'm going to make sure everything's okay back home."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Artemis nods, jabbing a thumb in Wally's direction. He snorts at that; what did she think he was, some petulant child?

"See you at home, Mis," Dick says, clapping a hand on Artemis' shoulder before shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket and heading for the exit.

"So," Artemis suddenly says with a grin that could give the Cheshire Cat a run for its money, "Your name's really _Wally_?"

Wally just groans and resists the urge to drop his head on the table.

~~.~~

He considers telling himself that he was just taking a shortcut. He was just patrolling the outskirts of their territory. He was just checking on the vacant brick house.

But standing across from the red house with a yard full of flamingos and other silly decorations that make him smile, Conner knows that he has no decent excuse to be here.

It didn't matter what drove him from the house. He could've had an argument with Dick. He could've felt too crowded. He could've just wanted to stretch his legs. No matter what, it seemed like he always wound up in this same spot, watching the same house, and longing for the same woman.

No matter how many times he came here, Megan never saw him. She was never looking for him. He was dead to her. He was dead to the whole world. He had to be; after he was turned he had to leave his old life and everyone in it behind.

He'd never gotten along with his dad. He never had a mom. He was quiet in school and he'd never had many friends. Except for Megan Morse, of course.

Megan had been the hardest person he'd had to leave behind after Bruce and Dick had helped him fake his death. He'd been with her since he was sixteen, and the four years they'd had together had been the best of his life.

He'd gone to his own funeral, like an idiot. He stood by the edge of the forest, away from the small crowd, but he could still hear Megan's sobbing, and on that day he'd hated his new superior senses. Hell, it had been three years since that day and it still hurt.

Conner had never blamed Bruce for turning him; the man had done it to save his life after Conner had been gunned down by a man that he escaped from prison. But there were times, like today, when Conner looked back on who he'd lost and he regretted it.

He wondered if Megan would've joined him if he'd approached her, but then he'd kick himself for even thinking such a thing. Megan was too sweet a girl for their lifestyle; she had friends and family that all cared about her, and he couldn't let her throw it all away on him, no matter how much he missed her.

She wasn't even home, he finally realizes once he notices her missing van. He frowns and looks down the street to make sure she isn't on her way back now. If she saw him, her supposedly dead ex-boyfriend standing across the street from her house, she'd probably have some sort of breakdown.

With another sigh, Conner finally turns away and shoves his hands into his pockets. He crosses the yard of the brick house, circling around the building and heading towards for the small path that leads into the forest. He can't risk any of the neighbors seeing him and mentioning him to Megan either, no matter how much he wants her to know that he's still alive.

There was easy no way to explain why and how he was alive, and even if he did manage to, there was no way she would ever forgive him for what he'd done. He wouldn't blame her; he still hadn't even managed for forgive himself.

~~~~.~~~~


	4. Chapter 4 - Trust and Saviors

~~~~~.~~~~~

"So how long are you planning to be my babysitter?" Wally asks Artemis as they walk down the street, and she shoots him another annoyed glare. Wally wonders if she's even capable of any expressions beyond scowling and smirking when she's around him.

"Until Dick thinks it's safe enough for me to leave you on your own," she finally replies as they round another corner and side-step a few other pedestrians, "Run off now and you could wind up as dog-chow."

"That reminds me," Wally pipes up as he steps forward and into Artemis' path, "What was with that cryptic little "humans couldn't protect me" thing from before? What did you mean?" Artemis narrows her eyes and for a moment Wally thinks she's going to answer him, but then she just shakes her head and steps around him.

"Not something I can explain right now," she replies over her shoulder. Wally scowls and hurriedly follows after her.

"All right, so the deal is that you won't answer any of my questions and you won't even tell me who you guys even _are_," Wally demands hotly, grabbing Artemis by the shoulders and turning her around to face him, "But I'm supposed to just trust you with my_ life_?!"

"Well, _Wallace_, the way I see it you have two choices," Artemis snaps back at him and pulls his hands off of her shoulders with surprising strength, "You can either trust us for now and stay alive, or you can run off, get killed, and give your cousin someone else to mourn, since I'm sure that's_ exactly _what he needs right now!"

Artemis turns away again and for a moment Wally just stares at her with wide eyes. She knew about Bart? She knew about his aunt and uncle? How the hell could she possibly have known about _any _of them?

"H-hey!" he finally shouts, running to catch up to her, "How did you know about my family?!"

"We make it our job to know about everyone who lives near our territory," Artemis replies, but he hears a slight waver in her voice, "Besides… I was standing outside of your house, remember? I heard you talking to Megan about it."

"That's not going to cut it, Artemis," Wally snaps and he steps into her path again, "Megan and I spoke_ inside_ the house, and if you and your weird friends are in a gang of psycho stalkers, then I'm… Wait, how did you know Megan's name?"

"Will you _shut up_?!" Artemis hisses with exasperation, glaring at some pedestrians that shoot them curious glances as they pass by, "Look, if and when Dick says that I can answer your questions about us, I'll answer them, but until then we need to just blend in with the crowd. You just have to trust me."

"You can't just _ask _someone to trust you and expect it to work," Wally frowns, arms folding over his chest, "They need some incentive or reassurance."

"I'm trying to keep you _alive_, genius!" she snaps again, and for a brief moment her gaze softens when she looks at him, "That should be enough incentive for you."

Wally narrows his eyes, holding her gaze. Part of him feels like he should believe her, but the other part reminds him that he doesn't even know who this girl is beyond her name, if _Artemis_ is even her real name, that is.

"Fine… We'll do things your way," he says at length and uncrosses his arms, "But it'll be dark soon, and since it doesn't look like you'll be free from babysitting anytime soon, can I at least call Megan and let her know I'll be back late?"

"That might not be…" Artemis starts, but then she just sighs and nods before turning away from him and nodding towards a small coffee shop across the street, "They've got a payphone in there, if you don't have a cell phone on you."

"Okay," Wally says, glancing at the coffee shop before nodding at Artemis, "I'll be back in a flash."

Artemis crosses her arms as he jogs across the crosswalk and resists the urge to scoff at him. Back in a flash? Lame.

She wasn't sure yet what to make of this Wally guy, which was unusual for her. Ten minutes was usually more than enough time for her to form a solid opinion of someone.

He seemed pretty smart, at least smart enough to not trust a group of strangers, but at the same time the guy hadn't recognize Conner, and he'd been with Megan for years when they were in school.

He was a little chatty for her liking too, and kind of a dork, but maybe he wouldn't turn out to be such a bad guy after all if she could just learn to tune out his never-ending stream of questions.

She just had to make sure she didn't make the mistake of getting too attached again.

~~.~~

The white-and-gray Victorian-style mansion looks the same as it always does and there are no foreign or hostile scents lingering in the air, so Dick permits himself to relax a little as he ascends the stairs leading to the double-door entrance of his home. The pack was safe.

As he walks inside he wonders if he's just worrying over nothing. Kaldur'ahm may have gotten angry when he saw Conner before, but even that man wasn't foolish enough to walk into a wolf's den, especially when every wolf there was holding a fierce grudge against Kaldur and his coven.

The last war between them had cost them all beloved members on both sides, but his pack still had the coven outnumbered and outmatched, and a human ally like that Wally fellow would give them another edge.

Dick knew he couldn't just pass Kaldur's threats off as idle, but right now he had the Terror Twins to worry about as well, and the threats they posed against their city took precedence over Kaldur's anger.

"Look Zee, I'm just saying that with those Terrors around, having border patrols more frequently wouldn't hurt!"

Dick pauses when he hears Cameron's voice drifting through the doorway of the study, and he tries not to sigh. He'd warned Cameron before about making any suggestions to the pack out of the presence of Dick or Artemis.

"Whether it would hurt or not, it's still not our call, Cam," he hears Zee reply, as she sounds as irritated with Cameron's suggestions as Dick feels. "Decisions like that are up to Dick to make, not us." Dick can't help but smile a little, knowing that Zatanna has his back even when they didn't know he was around.

"Besides, Dick probably wants us to stay close to the house, _ese_," Jaime speaks up next, "I doubt that the Terrors would ever come here alone, but we don't know if they've gotten any packmates since they were last here."

"When they were last here, they tore the underside of this town to shreds," Cameron snorts in reply. Dick takes that opportunity to enter the study, but Cam doesn't seem to notice him at all. He doesn't notice Jaime and Zatanna straighten up and shoot each other knowing looks either. "But we know that during the day the Terrors won't phase in the open. A _good _Alpha would let us track them down and take the Terrors out _now_."

"So that means that you think I'm not a good Alpha, is that right?" Dick finally speaks up. Cameron jumps whirls around in surprise, but his gaze immediately drops down to the floor, hands curling into fists.

"I only meant that… Um… Look boss, I'm just saying that –"

"If I want you to say something, I'll ask you," Dick growls with ill-conceal anger. Cameron tenses and quickly turns his head to the side to expose his neck to the younger man. "This is a warning, Cameron, but if you step out of rank and question my leadership again, there _will_ be consequences. Now out."

Cameron nods stiffly and gets to his feet, his eyes still cast to the floor as he exits the study. Zatanna and Jaime exchange looks again, almost seeming amused, as Dick slumps down onto the seat of the couch Cameron had been occupying.

"Jaime," Dick says a moment later in a noticeably softer tone, and the young Hispanic boy perks up, "Go check the perimeters and see if you can find Conner. He was supposed to be back before us."

"Sure thing, _jefe_," Jaime says with a nod, getting to his feet and leaving the room. Zatanna waits until she hears the front door open and close before she stands up and crosses the study to sit down beside Dick.

"So what did Kaldur say?" she finally asks, and Dick sighs before looking over at her.

"He says that we must've been wrong about those scents," Dick replies with a slight roll of his eyes, "According to him, every member of the Coven was accounted for last night."

"Well, we all know now that Kaldur's a better liar than most would give him credit for," Zatanna muses quietly and Dick eyes flash as he nods.

"We can probably say with certainty that Raquel and Tim were in our territory last night, but right now we have no leads on _why_," he huffs with irritation. Zatanna gazes at the floor for a moment before reaching out and setting her hand on top of his.

"It could be nothing," she suggests hopefully, "This incident wasn't exactly Kaldur's elite force declaring an invasion, Dick, and they were on the outskirts of the western forest – maybe they really did just wander in."

"But if I just do nothing about them being our territory," Dick turns his head towards her with a frown, "Then the next thing we know they're hunting on our lands, then we're hunting on their lands, and then we're just one brawl away from an all-out war again." Dick sighs heavily and runs his free hand through his hair, eyes cast to the ground. "We can't handle another one right now, Zee, and none of us can lose anyone else."

The two sit in silence for a moment, the faces of their lost packmates flashing through their minds. They'd lost so many loved ones in that last war that Dick was sure that it was the end of the pack, but somehow Conner and Artemis had kept him going.

"We won't, Dick," Zatanna finally says and she gives him a small smile, "Kaldur's side suffered through their losses too, but even if he is foolish enough to ever start another fight with us, we're a much stronger force than you think."

She leans over and kisses him, a sweet and reassuring gesture, and as she pulls away Dick meets her gaze and finally gives her a genuine smile.

"I know, Zee," he chuckles, wrapping his arms around Zatanna's waist and pulling her into his lap before returning her gentle kiss with one of his own. "I know…"

~~.~~

Artemis Crock didn't know what was making her angrier right now; the fact that that damn ginger man had bolted the second he was out of sight or the fact that she'd actually let him walk away _without_ suspecting that he'd make a break for it.

It was getting closer to sundown with each passing minutes, and the street lights were already starting to come on, which meant that the Terrors would be out on the streets soon enough, and if Artemis didn't find Wally before those two mad dogs did…

No. Thinking like that wouldn't do her a damn bit of good right now. She just had to figure out which direction Wally had gone in, track him down, and then kick his skinny ass for running off in the first place.

She just hoped she was the only one hunting for him right now…

She ducks into three stores and four restaurants before she finally admits defeat and pulls her cell phone from her jacket pocket, dialing the first number that she sees.

"Hey Conner, are you back at the mansion?" she asks before he can even mumble out a grumpy 'what?', "Good. Tell Dick that we may have a problem…"

~~.~~

Wally West couldn't believe that he'd actually given that crazy woman the slip! Sure she had that moving little speech about trusting her and all, but she still knew way too much about him and his family, the two guys that she was with were way too creepy to pass off as normal company, and Wally wasn't about to stick around in case the rest of their psycho gang popped up for a meet-and-greet.

Three of them were more than enough, thank you very much, and for all he knew, trusting her would end with him waking up in back of a van with half of his internal organs missing.

Jogging around another corner once the noise of the city was behind him, Wally had gone halfway down the sidewalk before he finally stopped and took his surroundings in. He was back in a suburban area, but none of the houses on this street had any lights on, and half of them had boards nailed over the windows and doorways.

…Okay, he'd definitely taken a wrong turn somewhere.

"Great," Wally mutters to himself as he suddenly rethinks all of the bad decisions he's made that day. He'd left his cell phone in the bag beside his bed like an idiot, and he had no idea where he was, which was both unusual and really frustrating. Obviously no one was living on this street, but even if there was this didn't exactly look like the sort of neighborhood where someone could just walk up to a house and ask for directions without getting shot at least once.

Wally was staring to think that maybe ditching Artemis and taking off in a random direction hadn't been such a good idea after all.

With one last glance around the shady neighborhood, Wally turns on his heels to walk back the way he came, but he freezes when he sees what's standing in the streets behind him.

For a second he thinks that they're dogs, except they're _way _bigger than any dogs he's ever seen. No, they're not dogs, he realizes, they're wolves. _Giant wolves_. A dark cream wolf and a much lighter she-wolf are walking towards him with their lips pulled back in snarls, and Wally feels his heart start to pound when he notices the blood mixed in with the saliva dripping from the jaws of the white one.

"W-What the hell…" Wally gulps, taking a few slow steps back and wondering if he could reach one of the empty houses if he ran as fast as he could. But the dark cream wolf suddenly lunges forward with a snarl and slams his head into Wally's chest, sending the redheaded man flying back through the air with the wind knocked out of him.

Gasping for breath, Wally rolls onto his stomach and pushes himself to his feet, making a beeline towards one of the houses. The white she-wolf behind him makes a rasping noise, one that almost sounds like laughter, while the cream one jumps forward again, sailing over Wally with ease and landing on his paws between Wally and the house.

"Shit!" Wally yelps, whirling around to run, but the cream wolf just leaps forward and pins Wally onto the ground with one paw, and Wally shivers at the hot blast of breath against the back of his head. The wolf snarls in his ear, claws sinking into Wally's shoulder, but before it can sink his teeth in a loud howl of pain rips through the air.

Both Wally and the cream wolf look up as the white she-wolf is being thrown to the ground by a male wolf with icy gray fur, and Wally winces as the cream wolf snarls at the gray one and shoves Wally to the side with a rough kick.

Wally is on his feet in an instant again and running towards the house just as a huge black wolf runs into view from behind another house and tackles the cream wolf.

Further proof of Wally's bad luck: the door of the house is locked.

"This can't really be happening," Wally mutters to himself, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his shoulder and pressing as close to the door as he can while praying that these ridiculously large wolves don't lose interest in fighting each other and turn on him instead.

The cream and white wolves have both thrown their attackers off now, and soon the sounds of vicious snarls and snapping teeth fill the air as they all bite and scratch at each other, and soon clumps of fur and droplets of bright blood are sprinkling down onto the ground. Wally scoots further away and cringes at the noise the –she wolf makes when the black wolf's teeth tear into her flank.

The cream wolf, as if in retaliation, grabs the gray one that he's fighting by the scruff with another fierce snarl and tosses him aside before tackling the black one and biting down hard into his shoulder.

Oh god these wolves were going to kill each other and if any of them lived they were going to kill him and then Bart would have no one left at all, how could he have been so stupid and –!

"Wally!" a sharp voice to his right suddenly hisses and Wally feels like he could cry with joy when he looks over and sees Artemis standing by the corner of the house. Wally stands up and then yelps again when the black wolf is knocked back against the wall of the house dangerously close to him, and Wally scrambles over to Artemis' side while the wolf gets up and jumps back into the fight.

"Artemis! Look, sorry I ran, but we seriously need to get the hell out of –!" Wally starts before Artemis grabs him by his shirt collar and pulls him around the corner so that they're both behind the house. Wally stumbles forward into someone, and he blinks when he recognized Dick, who looks far too amused for a guy standing twenty feet away from four giant wolves tearing at each other's flesh.

"Okay," Wally says in a shaky voice, "There's nothing but a rickety house standing between us and _four giant wolves_! Why aren't we _running away_?! Please tell me that you brought a gun, or a car, or a tank, or a –"

"Shut up, Wally!" Artemis suddenly snaps, slapping a hand over his mouth and pushing him back against the wall as a loud yelp rings out again and the snarls suddenly die down. Dick narrows his eyes and steps forward, and when he peers around the corner Wally hears him let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"It's all right, Artemis," Dick says, picking up a dark blue duffel bag that Wally hadn't even noticed off of the ground before disappearing around the corner. Artemis looks back at Wally and gives him a warning glare before following after Dick, and Wally, for reasons he can't even begin to fathom, walks out after her.

The dark cream and white wolf are nowhere to be seen, but the gray and black wolves are still standing in the middle of the street, both of them panting loudly. Their fur is ruffled in several spots and Wally can see blood trickling down from some few nasty-looking gashes on their chests and shoulders. The gray one's left ear is nearly torn in two and the black one is favoring his right hind leg.

For some reason Wally suddenly feels really guilty.

"You see that?" Artemis suddenly growls, standing beside him and pointing to the dark splatters of blood all over the street pavement, "That's all that would have been left of you by now if we hadn't found you in time!"

Wally cringes at her words but doesn't retaliate, and he's unable to tear his gaze away from the two bleeding wolves that are staring at him. They'd been protecting him… Why were they protecting him? Why had those other two wolves attacked him in the first place? How had Artemis and Dick known how to find him? Why were there giant wolves running around Central City?

All of the unanswered questions and adrenaline pulsing through his body is making his head spin, and Wally doubles over with a shudder as he tries to process everything he'd just witnessed.

"I think he's been through enough for now, Artemis," Dick speaks up and gently sets a hand on Wally's shoulder, "But she's right Wally – if we hadn't tracked you down in time, you would definitely be dead right now."

Wally feels his stomach lurch at Dick's words and he has to take a deep breath to resists the strong urge to just pass out.

"I think we should take him home now," Wally hears Artemis suggest behind him. Her tone is much softer than it had been a moment ago, and when Wally looks back at her she gives him a small smile, as if apologizing for yelling at him. Wally, in spite of everything, manages to return the smile.

"Agreed. Like it or not, Wally, I'm afraid you're involved now," Dick replies, and he tosses the duffel bag over towards the two wolves, "Con, Cam, let's go."

Wally blinks and looks around the empty street again. Conner was apparently there too, but where was he?

Sudden movement from the two wolves catches his eye and Wally's mouth drops open as they both rear up and their bodies started to change.

Oh no. Oh _hell_ no.

Please tell Wally that he is _not _watching two giant wolves shrinking down and reshaping until two grown men standing there instead, neither of them paying any mind to the blood still trickling down from their wounds.

"No need to thank us for saving your life or anything, ginger," the oddly pale-skinned man next to Conner huff. Conner just rolls his eye and unzips the duffel bag at his feet before pulling out articles of clothing.

"Well, since we obviously won't be able to talk ourselves out of this one," Dick is pinching the bridge of his nose now, "I imagine that you have quite a few questions for us, Wally."

Wally just looks over at the taller man, his green eyes as wide as saucers.

"Q-Questions?" he gapes at Dick, "What are you…? Those wolves just turned into _guys_! Or those guys just turned into _wolves_! This isn't a Van Helsing movie, so how can you both just stand there and be so… nonchalant!?"

Dick shrugs and says something that sounds like "You should really try to stay chalant right now Wally" just as Artemis pipes up with a "It's because we already knew genius", so instead of justifying either of their replies Wally does the most logical thing he can think of after going through a situation like this.

He flops over and faints.

"Uh…Did he just die?"

"He's not dead, Conner."

"Oh, okay."

~~~~.~~~~

_Some quick answers to a few questions/comments;_

_Samurai02008__ - It's really more inspired by novels like 'Blood and Chocolate' with a little influence from the 'Teen Wolf' series as well. __A comparison to Twilight is harmless but also very disheartening._

_RockyLover__ - Hmm, you'll just have to wait and see~_

_Chalant-writer3__– You probably know the answer by now, but yeah, Zee has her role in this as well~_

_ Ally Marton – Thanks, and the updates should be a lot more frequent from now on!_

_~And thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story so far~_


	5. Chapter 5 - A Sinister Promise

Disclaim: I do not and will never own any of the characters mentioned. They are the property of DC Comics and their respective creators.

~~~~~.~~~~~

Wally wakes up with a throbbing shoulder, an empty stomach, and a severe hope that everything in his head about the man-wolves that nearly ate him alive was all from some bizarre dream he'd had after eating too much Chinese take-out.

The fact that he was not in his bed, in addition to the very familiar muscular man standing at the foot of said strange bed, assured him that he was not so lucky.

"You're awake," Conner grunts as Wally pushed himself up into a sitting position. He's leaning on the wall with his arms were folded over his chest, and he was thankfully wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans this time. No matter how grateful he was that they'd saved his life last night, Wally did_ not_ want to see him and that Cam guy in all their glory again. Ever.

"Lucky me," Wally mumbles, rubbing his sore shoulder. There was a bandage taped down over the claw marks that the cream wolf had left behind, but Wally still winces at their tenderness. He takes a moment to look around the room; it's sparsely furnished, with just the twin bed and a dresser, and the walls are bare except for a single window. The bed sheets, the dresser, the walls, and the thick curtains on the window are all a dull blue color. It looked like a guest room, if Wally had to guess.

"So," Wally drawls out and looks back at Conner, who hasn't budged an inch, "You wanna tell me where the hell I am?"

"In a bed," Conner shrugs, and Wally isn't sure if he's being serious or not, but he sure doesn't look like the kind of guy who makes a lot of jokes. Unfortunately, Wally's far from being in the mood for jokes.

"I'm serious," Wally replies through gritted teeth as he throws back the bed sheet and stands up, "As much as I just _love_ waking up in strange rooms with creepy dudes watching me sleep, I need to get home!"

Conner just scowls and starts to reply when the bedroom door swings open, and a woman with wavy black hair rippling down her shoulders walks in.

"You're awake," she mirrors Conner's words, though her tone is much warmer and, to Wally, actually sounds a little relieved. The woman and Conner exchange a quick glance that seems to say a thousand words, and Conner nods at her before straightening up and leaving the room.

"Yeah…" Wally mumbles as his eyes flicker over her. Long legs, a slim figure, and some of the bluest eyes Wally has ever seen. She's a total babe, Wally decides then and there, but there's something off about her too, like she'd flip him over her shoulder if he said that out loud.

Wally wasn't sure if this woman was arousing or frightening, and for some reason that thought makes Artemis pop into his head.

The woman smiles, as if she can tell exactly what Wally's thinking, but she doesn't _look _angry, only amused.

"If you're done ogling me now," she says, and Wally bites back a _very_ unmanly squawk, "It's past noon, so we've got some lunch waiting downstairs. Dick says you've probably got a lot of questions for us, and a Q-and-A session is always better after food."

Wally stomach lets out a loud growl in reply.

~.~

About an hour later, and with nearly three meat-and-veggie sub sandwiches in his stomach (damn his metabolism) Wally is finally ready to get some answers to the questions still buzzing around in his mind.

The black-haired woman, who revealed during lunch that her name was Zatanna, leads him to the study, where Conner is already sitting. The room is large, with thick carpet and a beige wrap-around sofa in the center of the room. The wood-paneled walls not hidden behind tall, stocked bookshelves are covered with framed photos, and Wally recognizes a few of the faces in the pictures closest to him.

_Artemis and Zatanna sitting on a sofa. Dick and some redheaded woman wearing robes and holding up high-school diplomas. Conner smiling (he can smile?) and reaching for the camera. Dick and two younger boys sitting on a porch, all three of them wearing dark sunglasses. Artemis with her arms around Dick and that redheaded woman again. Zatanna standing beside a man that looks like he could be her father. A Hispanic boy sitting beside a much younger girl with pigtails that looks just like him. Conner holding the hand of a different redhead woman, both of their backs turned towards the camera. A tall dark-haired man standing beside Dick with a hand on his shoulder. _

"Wally?"

Wally blinks and looks away from a photo of Artemis and that Cam guy, who he suddenly dislikes even more. Zatanna is standing across the room beside Conner, and Wally's face flushes a little when he wonders how long he'd been staring at the pictures.

"Okay then," Wally mumbles, walking over and sitting in the spot across from Zatanna, "Million dollar question, how the hell did you and that other guy turn into wolves last night?"

"We're Lycans," Conner replies easily, as if Wally had asked him something as simple as the date, "And unlike the Terror Twins, we're the good kind."

"Good werewolves?" Wally cocks an eyebrow in disbelief, though Wally does remember the two wolves that attacked him the night before. If those two were the 'Terror Twins', their name was definitely well earned…

"Lycans, not werewolves," Conner corrects him grumpily.

"What's the difference?" Wally shoots back at him, and Conner bristles in annoyance.

"Werewolves are the less stable breed," Zatanna interjects, "There's more legends about them because they're the ones that terrorized Europe for centuries. I guess you could say they're our infamous cousins."

"Okay then," Wally furrows his brow, "You guys are w- Lycans, and you can turn into wolves. Why not… So do you guys like, transform and howl at the moon, eat people, and all that gory _Underworld _stuff?" Zatanna and Conner exchange those damn looks again; Zatanna looks entertained but Conner looks like he wants to put Wally through a brick wall.

"That's mostly a 'no'," Zatanna answers Wally, "Though some Lycans do attack humans, but most of us eat normal food, or when we transform we just eat other animals, like regular wolves."

"Full moon doesn't force Lycans to transform either. That's another werewolf flaw." Conner adds, "It just rejuvenates us, I guess. Helps us heal, gives us energy, and a couple other things..."

"Were you guys were born like this?"

"Some of us were, like Cameron and Artemis," Zatanna replies and Wally frowns at the man's name, "But most of us were turned by our packmates, past and present."

"Dick's our leader now, the Alpha male," Conner answers his next unspoken question, "Artemis is the Beta, our second-in-command. Jaime's our omega, and the rest of us are just gamma."

"Right," Wally rubs his temple, and if he hadn't witnessed some transformations first hand he'd probably be checking them all into an asylum right now, "Okay, so since I'm not part of your gang-"

"Pack."

"-_Pack_, then does this mean I can go home and pretend none of this ever happened?"

"I know this is a lot to take in," Zatanna frowns, "But you'll just have to stay here a bit longer. The Terrors had to have specifically tracked you down for reason, and they could still be out there looking for you right now."

"Great, I'm a walking chew toy and now I'm stuck here." Wally mutters as he slumps back against the sofa cushions.

He probably should've felt more grateful; these guys had literally saved him from the jaws of death, but they were expecting him to accept a lot of bizarre information all at once.

Two days ago he'd come back to take care of his cousin and now he was sitting in the living room of a Lycan household.

Speaking of which…

"Hey, do you guys have a phone I can use?" Wally asks and sits up, suddenly remembering his cousin and Megan, who was probably having a fit over him not returning last night, "I need to let some people know that I'm not dead."

"Sure," Conner grunts and fishes a cell phone from his back pocket before tossing it over to Wally, "But Artemis told us what happened yesterday, and if you try running again I'll break both your legs."

Zatanna smiles at Conner, but Wally's pretty sure that he's not joking.

~~.~~

"We've checked the docks, the abandoned _and _occupied suburbs, and most of the forests," Artemis growls as she and Dick walk down the nearly empty streets of the downtown city district. "Those two are as incapable of blending in as possible, so where the hell did they go?"

"No idea, Mis," Dick sighs back at her, "But I don't like it. We saved Wally from them once, but those two don't let their prey go without a fight."

"You think they'll attack the mansion?" Artemis asks. Her eyes flash with concern, but Dick just frowns and shakes his head.

"Tommy's probably stupid enough to do that on his own, but Tuppence is too smart for that. She'll bide her time, or set traps. In any case, Wally won't be safe unless they lose interest in him or we take them out."

"What about Megan?" Artemis frowns, "Wally's scent leads right to her house, so is that place even safe for them?"

"I don't know," Dick says and his worried expression mirrors hers, "Her house is in our territory, but still a few blocks from the mansion, so they might target it... But it's across the street from the brick house, so even those two rogues might steer clear."

"Since you are speaking of the rogues," A new voice suddenly cuts in, "I take it your attempts to dissuade their hunting of West was unsuccessful?"

Artemis and Dick simultaneously scowled and turned around to face the speaker; Kaldur'ahm. He stood only a yard or so away from them beside a black-haired man, and Dick couldn't help but feel unnerved at how easily they'd snuck up on them.

"Garth," Artemis growls at the black-haired man, who narrows his eyes back at her, "One of my favorite _leeches_."

"Feeling's not mutual, _mutt_," he hisses back at her, but Kaldur raises a hand and Garth straightens up obediently, though hatred still burns in his eyes.

"What do you want, Kaldur?" Dick asks, not in the mood for a confrontation. He sets a hand on Artemis' shoulder to calm her and she relaxes under his touch, but like Garth, her anger remains obvious.

"Your failure to stop the Terror Twins cannot be ignored," Kaldur replies coolly, "So I am here to tell you that my Coven and I will be searching for them as well. I highly suggest that you keep your breed out of our way."

"You can't just-!" Artemis starts to snarl, but Dick shoots her a look that immediately silences her.

"We will be hunting tonight," Kaldur continues as if Artemis hadn't spoken at all, "And just to warn you Richard, if your little pack steps one paw onto our hunting grounds, we _will _kill them."

"You can try." Dick replies as Kaldur and Garth walk past them, and it takes every ounce of self-control he has not to tear them to pieces right there.

~~.~~

Zatanna and Conner stand in the doorway of the study to watch Wally pace back and forth in the front foyer, and even from the short distance between them they can hear Megan scolding Wally through the receiver.

"I know, Megan…Yeah. Yeah, I am a jerk for not calling you sooner and I'm _really_ sorry, but I swear I just lost track of time! I ran into some old friends and just crashed at their place… Uh-huh. No, you don't know them… They're my friends, not a gang of kidnappers, Megs…Yeah, I already ate…Don't worry, I got plenty…"

"She never changes," Conner mumbles fondly, and Zatanna shoots him a sympathetic look when she catches the slight ache in his tone.

This new life, in spite of the long-term advantages, had taken them all some getting used to, but having loved ones to share it with made everything so much easier. Unlike her, Conner hadn't gotten that luxury, and there wasn't a person in the house that didn't know that he was still pining for a human he'd left behind.

Conner just sighs and walks back into the study. Zatanna, deciding that Wally's phone call deserved a little privacy, soon follows after him.

"Yeah," Wally replies to what felt like the thousandth question Megan has asked him, "Um… No, they stepped out to get some lunch, so I'm here alone."

"Do you need me to come get you?" Megan asks, "The boys should be home any minute now but I know you left your car, and it won't be a problem-"

"No, its fine Megan," Wally assures her, "I'm not sure yet when I'll be coming back."

"All right, but if you need a lift just let me-"

"Hey sis!" the voice of Megan's little brother in the background suddenly pipes up in the background, and Wally can faintly hear a door opening and closing, "We're home!"

"Gar, no shoes on the carpet," Megan reprimands gently, her voice quiet as if she were covering the mouthpiece, "Bart, Wally's on the phone!"

"He is?" Wally hears a muffled but familiar voice and a slight scuffle as the phone is passed from one person to another, "Wally? Hey!

"Hey Bart," Wally greets, trying to ignore the sting of guilt that their first meeting after all this time wasn't in person. "How've you been?"

"Not bad, cuz!" Bart chirps back at him. "Chilling with some friends and working my way through school. Kinda got me moded but summertime freedom's getting closer every day! You've been crashing at a friend's house, huh? Ha! Crash… That's such a retro word, do people still say that anymore? Way outmoded if you ask me!"

Wally rolls his eyes with a fond smile. He didn't know if he was just behind on the latest slang or if Bart was making up words again, but half the time he had no idea what his cousin was even saying. He'd been the same way when he was Bart's age, but his ADHD had thankfully mellowed out as the years went by.

"Anyway, I gotta run, get through that homework and kick Gar's butt in some Mega Monkeys 4.2 – don't 'Hey!' me, Gar, I totally kicked your butt last time! Talk to ya later, cuz!"

"Later Bart – I'll be home soon," Wally says with a smile, glad to hear that Bart sounded so genuinely happy in spite of everything that had happened to him lately.

"Bart, feet off the coffee table!" he hears Megan say as Bart handed – or more likely tossed - the phone back to her, and Wally wishes that he were back there with them instead of stuck in this weird mansion with these weird people. "You sure you're all right out there, Wally?"

"Trust me Megs, if I were in any kind of trouble you'd be the first person I called," Wally replies honestly, and Megan lets out a quiet but convinced sigh.

"All right… Well, if you do need anything just call me, okay?"

"Will do, Megan," he promises with a chuckle, "Okay, bye."

The front double-doors swing open just as he ends the call, and Wally looks over to see Cameron and a young Hispanic boy walk into the foyer, both of them looking exhausted.

"Oh. You're still here." Cameron grunts as he walks past him, and Wally returns the pale-skinned man's scowl with one of his own. Apparently Cameron didn't like Wally anymore than Wally liked him, but that suited the redhead just fine.

"Hey, you're the human that got rescued last night," The Hispanic boy pipes up and approaches him, "It's Walter, right?"

"Wally, actually," the older man corrects, "And let me guess, you're part of the happy little Lycan family too?" The boy looks surprised for a moment but then he just smiles and nods.

"Yeah, Jaime Reyes, the Omega of the pack," he replies. Wally frowns and opens his mouth to ask what an 'Omega' even was when the front doors swing open again and Dick trudges in with Artemis close behind him. They don't look as exhausted as the other two had, but they did look irritated.

"Wally," Dick greets him as if they were old friends instead of near strangers, shrugging off his black leather jacket as he kicks the door shut behind him. "Glad to see you're up and looking whelmed."

"Not curled up in a corner having a breakdown. That's a shocker," Artemis remarks before Wally can ask Dick what the hell "whelmed" even means, and he silently wonders if that's Artemis-talk for "I'm so glad you're doing all right even after finding out that you slept in a household full of Lycans!". Artemis takes off her own black jacket as well, and if she notices Wally's gaze linger on her for a moment she doesn't call him out on it.

"Any luck on finding the Terrors?" Conner asks, emerging from the study with Zatanna beside him, and Wally realizes with a jolt that all six Lycans are all standing in the room surrounding him. He suddenly feels like a wolf's prey all over again…

"Kaldur says the Coven is taking over the hunt for them tonight," Dick informs them, and Wally can't help but tense up as a chorus of low growls from the others rumbles through the room, "We have until then to track the Terrors down."

"The Coven's also made an open threat to all of us if we cross their paths tonight," Artemis speaks up, "So even if we haven't found the Twins by sundown, everyone has to report back here."

Wally frowns at this new mess of information, but he refrains from asking any questions. This pack looks tense enough as it is and opening his mouth right now could probably end with him getting his head bitten off, literally.

"Zatanna, you'll come with me, we'll check the downtown area again. Cameron, you're with Artemis, you'll check the forests and the docks." Wally unconsciously scowls over at the smirking Cameron and misses the slight smirk that Dick sends his way.

"Jaime and Conner," he continues, "You'll both stay here to guard Wally and the mansion. If they've tracked Wally's scent back to here, then the Terrors' sudden absence could just be a ploy to lure us away."

"Wait," Conner suddenly speaks up, stepping forward with a surprisingly concerned expression, "If they can track Wally's scent here then they can track his scent back to Megan too. Shouldn't someone keep an eye on her too?"

Wally's stomach suddenly lurches at the thought of the Terrors finding Megan's house, especially with Garfield and Bart there. Dick frowns, looking a little conflicted, but he finally nods in agreement.

"Fine… Conner, you can keep an eye on Megan and the others at her house, but don't get any closer than you need to," he commands, though Wally doesn't understand the underlying anger in the man's voice. Personally, Wally was glad that Conner had thought of a household beyond this one…

"Right," Conner nods, looking as close to being happy as Wally had ever seen him, though they didn't have much of a quality-time record behind them.

"Looks like it's just you and me then, _ese_," Jaime says to him and, looking down at the scrawny boy, Wally suddenly doesn't feel as safe as he had a few minutes ago.

"Six hours until sundown," Dick speaks up again, and the attention immediately turns back up him, "Remember, if you don't find the Terrors, break off the hunt anyway and come home. Avoid the Coven at all costs. Move out."

Cameron, Conner, and Zatanna quickly follow Dick outside, and Jaime trails out after them to see them off. Artemis lingers for a moment and when Wally looks over at her he's surprised to see a look of concern on her face.

"You going to be okay here?" she asks after a short moment of silence. Wally feels as far from okay as possible, but her concern seems genuine so he manages to give her a smile.

"Don't worry about me, just go find those loose cannons, babe."

Her eyes flash at the nickname he uses, but to his surprise she returns his smile instead of punching him and hurries outside to catch up with the others.

Though Jaime is back inside now and courteously offering to give Wally a tour, with Artemis gone the strange mansion suddenly feels very empty.

~~.~~


	6. Chapter 6 - Lies and Longing

Disclaim: I do not and will never own any of the characters mentioned. They are the property of DC Comics and their respective creators.

~~~~~.~~~~~

Everything was quiet, and Conner isn't sure whether to be relieved or concerned by that. Even if Megan and those noisy boys in the house with her weren't the current targets, he found it hard to believe that the Terrors wouldn't at least scope this area out to see why Wally's scent led here.

Oh well. As long as Megan was safe, he could probably tolerate being a guard dog for a few more hours…

Conner had never been known for his patience, but being around Megan had always brought out the best in him. He still wasn't sure what higher powers had drawn them to one another, but being with her had felt like the most natural thing in the world. He'd forget that he was an orphan, bouncing from one foster home to another. He'd forget that he was a loner who was barely getting by in school. He'd forget about his damn temper, which had gotten him into many bad situations beyond counting.

Megan Morse really was the best and worst thing that had ever happened to him. She was his best and only friend. She tutored him in classes. She gave him the confidence to get involved in sports and he'd even make a few more friends along the way, like Mal Duncan and Victor Stone. She'd kept him calm, and he'd been happier that he'd ever been in his life before.

Until that damn night happened, and he lost the most important person in the world… Losing her still kept him up at night, and it was a miracle in itself that he'd lived so close to her, yet he still managed to stay away.

Dick was the Alpha, and Conner put all of his faith and trust in the younger man. But there was no denying his touch of bitterness towards the fact that Dick got to spend _his_ new life with a woman he loved and Conner didn't. But he couldn't blame either of them; Zatanna's turning had been a desperate decision by Dick, even if it broke his own rules.

But after all Conner had given to Dick over the years, he'd never asked for anything in exchange. Maybe he could still convinced him to let Conner approach Megan and turn-

No. There were those thoughts again…

Megan's life and happiness as a normal human wasn't Conner's to take. The Lycans didn't go through some of the drastic changes the Coven had, but the transformations were painful at first and the cravings that came with them were sometimes unbearable. Conner had long since gotten used to it all, but he wouldn't wish those experiences on anyone, especially Megan.

He had to live with the fact that he couldn't have her anymore, but he couldn't just tell himself to move on; he'd been trying for years. He couldn't just move on from what he'd had with Megan, especially when it seemed like she still hadn't moved on from him either.

~.~

Bart _really _didn't like the looks of that guy, but it was probably natural to be worried about a boxer-looking man that had been standing across the street watching your house for the past half-hour.

He wonders if he should tell Megan about him, but if he did, she'd probably go outside to confront the guy. For all Bart knew he could have a gun hidden under that shady black jacket, and the last thing he wanted was for Megan to get hurt because some guy was creeping him out. Wally would never forgive him…

"Bart, the cookies are almost done," Megan calls out behind him, and Bart turns away from the window to sniff the delicious aroma in the air. If there's one thing that can distract him, it was Megan's cookies.

"Be there in a sec!" Bart calls back to her. Garfield was already in the kitchen with Megan, sipping impatiently at a cup of milk. Seeing that both of their backs were to him, Bart quietly slipped through the front door and approached the man, who scowled and narrowed his eyes at the sight of the brunette boy but made no other movements.

"Okay, look dude, I don't know if you're some new neighbor checking the place out or a bum wandering around, or just some bored creeper, but most people don't appreciate people staring at their houses." Bart calls out to him from the end of Megan's driveway. He didn't plan to be any closer to this guy than he already had to be. "So, could you like, wander elsewhere or at least tell me why you've been standing in front of our house like some nut job?"

"No."

"Okay… Are you high or something?"

"No."

"Do you need directions?"

"No."

"Are you here to see Megan?"

"…No."

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Maybe."

Bart frowned again. He really did _not_ like this guy at all, and likewise, Conner found himself disliking this jabbering boy less and less.

"Okay, well if you have no reason for being here-"

"I'm an old friend of Megan's. We used to, uh…we went to high school together."

Bart blinks at this new revelation. So, at least he knew now that the guy was capable of saying something beyond 'no'.

"But… you just said that you weren't here to see Megan."

"I'm not."

"But you're an old friend of hers?"

"Yes."

"So instead of going up and talking to her like a normal person, you're going to stand out here and stare at her house?"

"I…" Conner starts to say before trailing off and frowning, "She's not supposed to see me." Bart raises an eyebrow at that.

"Dude, you're a big buff man in a leather jacket standing in front of a vacant house. Trust me, if she even glances out her window for half a second, she's going to see you, so I think we should all take the easy road in this situation, and you should lea-"

"I'm not going to hurt her," Conner interrupts, and Bart is surprised by the sudden tenderness in the man's otherwise gruff voice, "If I don't want her to see me, then she won't see me. But I'd die before I ever harmed her."

Bart shifts his weight from side to side as a silence hung over them before he finally sighs. There was something about this guy that was still pretty off, but Bart considered himself a pretty good judge of character, and something told him that this man truly had no hostile intentions towards Megan.

"Fine," Bart finally relents, "But seriously, standing outside someone else's is really not crash, dude."

"I'll be gone soon enough," Conner huffs and in an instant his scowl is back, "Just making sure that Megan was okay." Bart frowns again and was about to tell the man that a simple knock on the door could have confirmed that, but before he can speak Conner turns away and heads down the sidewalk away from the house.

"Okay then, good talk…Weirdo…" Bart mutters to himself, watching the man for a moment before walking backwards towards the house.

"Bart?" The brunette boy jumps at the sound of Megan's voice and turns around to see her standing in the doorway with a look of concern on her face. "What are you doing out here?"

"Um, I was just uh…checking the mail!" Bart replies, flashing her the best grin he could muster before slipping past her and into the house. "So, um, are the cookies done? I'm starving!"

"They're on the table," Megan replies with a smile as he passed her. She turns to follow him back into the house, but then she freezes halfway, hand lingering on the knob, when she sees the man walking down the street not too far away.

Even from here, she can recognize that dark tousled hair, the familiar heavy gait, the way he holds his shoulders back as he-

No.

It wasn't him.

That was impossible.

It was just a coincidence that the man walking away looked so much like Conner from behind.

Conner Kent was dead. Her best friend was dead. He'd been shot years ago. She'd gone to his funeral and she'd seen them bury his casket.

"Better hurry, sis!" she suddenly hears Garfield laugh from inside the house, "Bart doesn't look like he plans to leave any cookies for you!"

"What? Oh, right," she replies distractedly, finally stepping back into the house and shutting the door behind her. She leans back against it for a moment, taking a deep, shuddery breathe before composing herself and heading towards her kitchen.

It couldn't have been him. Conner was gone. She knew that. She's accepted that years ago and she's moved on since then.

But if that was true, then why was her heart still pounding so hard?

~~.~~

The search through the forest and around the docks had been utterly fruitless, but Dick and Zatanna had finally caught the Terror's scent somewhere downtown, so at least the past few hours hadn't been entirely wasted.

"This is definitely the place," Dick announces, his nose wrinkling as they all stare at the fenced-off warehouse district in front of them. The whole place smelled like burning rubber and rusted machinery, and it was making their noses burn. The sooner they checked this place out and left, the better.

"Let's get this over with then," Artemis sighs to Dick's right before looking back at Zatanna and Cameron, "Cam, you search number 1-6, Zee, take 7-12, I'll check-"

"No need to split up, Mis," Dick suddenly interrupts, and the three of them turn to see him staring at a dull greenish-gray warehouse in the distance, "I can smell blood inside that one from here."

"Warehouse 16 it is then," Artemis mutters as she and the others climbed over the creaky chain link fence with ease. The closer they got to Warehouse 16 the stronger the scent of the blood became, and Artemis realized with a small jolt that it was human blood.

"They're hunting humans _again_?" Cameron snarls quietly beside her, "I knew they could be stupid, but are they _trying_ to blow our cover?!"

"Quiet!" Dick snarls back over his shoulder, crouching down beside the side-entrance door and sniffing the air again. Artemis kneels down beside him and listens for any sound of movement from the inside, but she can't hear anything beyond the slight groan of wind against the metal.

"They're not as stupid as they let on," Artemis hears Zatanna whispering to Cameron behind her, "They just snag bums or drifters; people that won't be noticed or missed."

"They target faceless losers, huh? Well that explains why they're so dead set on taking West down then," Cameron snickers, and Artemis elbows him a little harder than usual to silence him.

They all wait in a tense silence for a few moments before Dick finally turns away from the door and looks the three of them over before his gaze settles on Artemis.

"Mis, you're with me," he informs the blonde, "Zee, you take Cameron and enter from the back entrance. Head for the center of the warehouse; if the twins are still here, that's probably where they'll be."

"Got it, boss," Cameron nods before following Zee around the corner. Artemis watches them before meeting Dick's gaze with a nod of her own. Moving noiselessly, Dick slowly pushes the door beside him open and the two step inside, both of them recoiling at the strong scent of rotting meat that hits them. Tommy's latest lunch, no doubt.

"So if they are here," Artemis mutters as Dick shuts the door behind them, plunging the narrow entryway into darkness, "Are we aiming to kill them or what?"

"Even with the four of us we'd have one hell of a time trying to kill those two," Dick replies in a voice barely above a whisper, "I'd rather not take out any more of our own kind, but if they can't be persuaded to leave then we won't have a choice."

"I was afraid you'd say that," Artemis sighs. Dick glances back at her with a curious frown, but before he can speak a loud yelp suddenly rips through the air, echoing harshly off the metal walls around them.

"This way!" Dick snaps, whirling around and leading her down the hallway and towards the source of the noise. Artemis follows him closely, a rush of fear suddenly pulsing through her. She recognized that yelp at soon as she heard it and she had no doubt that Dick did too, since it had come from Zatanna.

~.~

When they got to the clearing Artemis had expected to see one, if not both, of the Terror twins attacking their packmates.

What she was _not_ expecting was to see Cameron and Zatanna both pinned down and surrounded by Kaldur and the majority of the Keystone Coven (or at least what remained of the Coven).

On Kaldur's left, Raquel Ervin is kneeling above Cameron, who is on his stomach with his arms pinned behind his back, and standing beside her is Billy Batson, the youngest member of the Coven. Billy, at least, has the decency to look a little apologetic about the scene before them.

Zatanna is on her knees in front of Garth, who has a hand around her throat, and Artemis bristles when she sees the thin rivulets of blood trickling onto Zatanna's collarbone from where Garth's nails are cutting into her skin.

Artemis briefly wonders if Dick noticed that Tim wasn't present, but judging by the way he's glowering at Garth, he probably wouldn't care right now even if he had noticed.

"Get your hands off of her," he snarls at Garth. Garth narrows his eyes but doesn't move, and Dick lets out a low growl before Kaldur steps forward. Dick quickly steps in front of Artemis, hands curled into fists, and the blonde woman takes a small step away from him when she feels the anger radiating off of him.

"Kaldur, release her now or-!"

"For the moment, they will not be harmed," Kaldur cuts him off with a wave of his hand, "We are, after all, still under a rather fragile truce. However, I do apparently need to remind you that we are taking over the hunt."

"Sundown's not for another three hours," Dick growls back at him, "And considering the fact that _Zatanna_ is the only reason you're not a pile of ashes right now, I'd show a little gratitude and let her go!"

"The Terrors are killing humans again," Kaldur replies calmly, and he nods towards a dark bloodstain on the concrete floor that Artemis hadn't even noticed, "I am afraid that pushes up the time table."

"Don't like a little competition, huh?" Cameron mutters from where he's pinned, but he winces when Raquel tightens her grip on his wrists, "You guys feed off of humans! You don't give two shits about their lives!"

"We feed off of them, but we don't kill them," Raquel snaps down at him. Kaldur frowns and his gaze briefly flickers down to Cameron before he turns his attention back to Dick.

"The more pressing matter; a sudden rise in unexplainable human deaths would bring about questions and investigations from the police forces," he explained, "Investigations that neither of our households can avoid nor afford right now."

"Human police are going to be the last of your problems if you don't _put her down_," Dick snarls again, taking another step closer to Garth. Artemis reaches out to set a hand on his shoulder but then she draws back. Dick looks like he's second away from phasing and ripping Garth's arms off himself.

Kaldur just narrows his eyes and sighs before waving a hand back at the cover, and Garth immediately releases his hold on Zatanna, who staggers away from him. She winces as she rubs the raw cuts on her throat, and Artemis suddenly feels a flash of fear mixed in with Dick's anger.

Raquel scowls when Kaldur looks back at her but then she steps back as well, and Cameron quickly scurries away from her as soon as her weight is gone. He mutters a few choice curse words as he does, and Raquel hisses but gives him no further response.

"Smart move," Artemis remarks as Dick hurries forward to move Zatanna behind him. She takes a step away from them all, shivering slightly, and Artemis reaches out and gently sets her hand on Zatanna's wrist. The shivering slowly subsides.

"Consider this a show of our gratitude for your assistance with our nocturnal limitations," Kaldur says before waving his hand again, and one by one the members of the Coven turn away and disappear into the dark shadows of the warehouse behind them. "But the threat still stands, Dick; interrupt our hunt tonight, and we will kill you."

Kaldur turns away and disappears as swiftly as the others had. Dick immediately turns his attention to Zatanna and gently tilts her head back to examine her bleeding throat. Artemis watches them, her brow furrowed with worry.

"Just a few shallow cuts," he informs them all a moment later, and Artemis and Zatanna both let out a relieved sigh.

"Yeah, I'm fine, by the way," Cameron huffs as he passes them, but another swift elbow to the stomach from Artemis silences him. Now was _not_ the time for him to be testing the limits of Dick's patience.

"Come on," Dick mutters before gently bumping his forehead against Zatanna's, "Let's get you back to the house."

"Dick, should we keep searching?" Artemis asks with a frown, but Dick sighs heavily before shaking his head.

"Kaldur's not one to show a mercy towards us twice in one day, so if they want the damn Terrors so badly then they can have them."

Artemis frowns again, but Dick is already leading Zatanna away so she knows there's no point in arguing now. She exchanges an uneasy glance with Cameron, who just shrugs back at her before following the other two.

With a sigh, Artemis gives the warehouse one more look-over. The Terrors had definitely been here, but they were gone now, and even if they did return they'd catch all of the new scents long before entering the warehouse. So, this place was a dead end, her best friend was wounded, and there was a gang of vindictive vamps on a wolf hunt now.

"Perfect," Artemis mumbles to herself before hurrying to catch up with the others. She was more than ready to leave this place behind and return to the mansion.

But her worry for Zatanna and the strong lingering stench of the blood are a distraction, and Artemis doesn't notice the dark brown wolf watching her from the far side of the warehouse.

~~~~~.~~~~~


End file.
